TNW 455: The Trouble With "Health Age" - Wearables, Metrics, and the Truth About Your Well-Being
Tech News Weekly (Audio)Show Notes
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins the show this week! AI-generated "news" sites. Are "health age" scores helpful, or harmful? Google Home now supports the Model Context Protocol. And Apple unveils a new photo verification technology for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.
Mikah shares a story about Futurism's investigation into Brown Brothers Media reveals a network of AI-generated "news" sites - complete with fabricated writer personas and stolen bylines.
Victoria Song of The Verge joins the show to explain why "health age" scores from wearables like Whoop, Oura, and now Apple Watch are wildly inconsistent proprietary metrics that can fuel unnecessary shame or false confidence about your health.
Jennifer discusses Google Home's new MCP support and makes the case that what smart homes really need is a dedicated, on-device "smart home computer" rather than more cloud-dependent AI.
And Mikah talks about Apple's Reference Image feature for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which aims to verify photo authenticity straight from the camera sensor, an approach the company says avoids the privacy and security pitfalls of industry standards like C2PA.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Guest: Victoria Song
Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly.
Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
Sponsors: trustedtech.team/twit
outsystems.com/twit
rayneo.com
threatlocker.com/twit
More from Tech News Weekly (Audio)
Meta Muse's security flaw. Reviews of the iPhone Duo are starting to come out. Microsoft's plans to overhaul the Xbox department. And Meta is ordered to pay $25 billion in a New Mexico court ruling.
Apple recently unveiled its Apple HomeView, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy got a first-hand look at Apple's foray into the smart home market! Apple also unveiled its Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini 2. And some US states have filed lawsuits against OpenAI.
Amanda Silberling joins Mikah Sargent on this week's episode of Tech News Weekly! Common Sense Media labels ChatGPT for Teens as an "unacceptable risk." AI agents from companies such as Meta and OpenAI are "cute washing" to make them feel friendlier. A federal judge ruled a Flock license plate search unconstitutional. And organs-on-chips, simulations, and AI models are starting to replace animal testing.
Abrar Al-Heeti is guest-hosting this episode of Tech News Weekly and is joined by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy for the first half of the show! Apple's smart home display could be closer than we think. Is the iPhone Duo going to be for most consumers? Are there too many satellites in orbit? And a leaked IPO filing from Anthropic shows concerns within the company that its AI models pose a risk to humanity.
Dan Moren of Six Colors joins the show this week! Meta's Muse has a zero-day vulnerability. Rat brains can power an AI model? Why are we hearing more about AI agents escaping their testing environments? And Meta's new VR glasses.